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Japan, ASEAN defense officials to meet on Tue. to discuss security+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, March 12_(Kyodo) _ Japan will host the first security meeting for senior defense ministers from Japan and 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries next Tuesday to discuss "nontraditional" security issues, the Defense Ministry said Thursday. The conference, dubbed the "Meeting of Senior Defense Officials on Common Security Challenges in the Asia-Pacific Region," will explore nonmilitary security issues confronting the participating countries, such as natural disasters and bird flu. "Relations between Japan and ASEAN have long centered on the economy. So we hope to move them up to a higher level and start to build confidence from an area that is less likely to meet resistance," a senior ministry official said in a briefing. The one-day meeting in Tokyo, which will be chaired by Japanese Vice Defense Minister Kohei Masuda, will be followed by bilateral meetings between Masuda and his counterparts from Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore. ASEAN has seven other member states: Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Copyright ? 2009 Kyodo News International, Inc. |